I know what I think of the trend today for many people to ignore any shotgun unless it's a Riot or Trench shortened one. So I'll state my beliefs, and others can agree or disagree.
If you do a search today for either keyword Riot or Trench you will find a dozen to hundreds on EACH gun selling website. 15 years ago you might find 3. 30 years ago a cut down shotgun would not even sell, people wanted nice, blued Auto-5s or Browning Over Unders, not some war relic useful for nothing. Today?
Here, I just did it:
An original riot or trench is great to have if you want one. I do...one. But I think it's wrong to cut down a shotgun. Many people give the excuse that "Intact barrel lengths are not wanted anymore", usually coming from dealers who try to sell any gun that comes in the door. So they cut them down. The rationale is damaging a gun and taking away it's original purpose (hunting birds) is ok because the old gun is worthless. Or more likely, they're saying the NEW gun chopped is worth more? This is like saying "parkarized WWII Colt 1911A1s are selling for more money than post-war Commercial Gov Model 45s, so I'll start sandblasting the blued ones and parkarizing them. Or the scrappers who take beautiful old Waltham pocket watches, rip the movement out and sell the gold case, because "nobody uses pocket watches anymore." It's destroying history for filthy lucre.
Others say "it's your gun, do what you want with it." But at the same time saying don't reblue a fine Colt, Parker, or strip the varnish off of a 1760s Colonial side table. They are not making any more original old pump shotguns. Every week someone is almost encouraged to "chop it down!"
I won't talk much about "slam-fire" but it's what every 18 year old asks if they see one of my beautiful 100 year old pump shotguns. I say "they weren't designed to slam-fire, they just didn't thing they had to design them NOT too - it wasn't something a hunter would ever do."
Why are combat versions of what was originally made to hunt birds so popular? It's the tectonic movement of American culture away from first the need to hunt birds, then the recreational enjoyment of hunting birds, to the "badazz" need to play Army Guy or Prison Guard. By the way, I was on the PRP security alert team in the Navy on my ship. We had shotguns, pump 870s. They were not cut down or shortend, just regular length shotguns. ON a ship, with tiny hatches and passageways. I also shot Cowboy Action for years with a regular 30" barrel Winchester 1897. No need to cut it down, doing close combat type shooting. Am I saying most of the riot/trench gun is for looks, for posers? Maybe.
In a nutshell, defense has overcome hunting. You go to a range today and it reminds me of Boot Camp gun qualifications day...everyone has an assault rifle or black gun, firing fast, close, at a man shaped shilohette. Before you think I'm anti-defense, far from it, I carry a gun and keep one around at all times. But to me, it's sad to see so many classic Auto-5s, Stevens 520s, Winchester 1897s and 12s all being chopped to make a "trench sweeper" or "assault shotgun". John M. Browning would be rolling in his grave. We Americans were fighters, when need be. But after the wars, we returned to frontier pastimes like duck, pheasant, and quail hunting. Today, we're beating our plowshares into swords. And losing those shotguns and their history.
So many shotguns deserve to be taken out again to shoot with a young man or woman at what they were made to shoot at - live birds or clay pidgeons. They don't deserve to be hacked off to fit some current fashion or to make a little more money for flippers.
If you do a search today for either keyword Riot or Trench you will find a dozen to hundreds on EACH gun selling website. 15 years ago you might find 3. 30 years ago a cut down shotgun would not even sell, people wanted nice, blued Auto-5s or Browning Over Unders, not some war relic useful for nothing. Today?
Here, I just did it:
An original riot or trench is great to have if you want one. I do...one. But I think it's wrong to cut down a shotgun. Many people give the excuse that "Intact barrel lengths are not wanted anymore", usually coming from dealers who try to sell any gun that comes in the door. So they cut them down. The rationale is damaging a gun and taking away it's original purpose (hunting birds) is ok because the old gun is worthless. Or more likely, they're saying the NEW gun chopped is worth more? This is like saying "parkarized WWII Colt 1911A1s are selling for more money than post-war Commercial Gov Model 45s, so I'll start sandblasting the blued ones and parkarizing them. Or the scrappers who take beautiful old Waltham pocket watches, rip the movement out and sell the gold case, because "nobody uses pocket watches anymore." It's destroying history for filthy lucre.
Others say "it's your gun, do what you want with it." But at the same time saying don't reblue a fine Colt, Parker, or strip the varnish off of a 1760s Colonial side table. They are not making any more original old pump shotguns. Every week someone is almost encouraged to "chop it down!"
I won't talk much about "slam-fire" but it's what every 18 year old asks if they see one of my beautiful 100 year old pump shotguns. I say "they weren't designed to slam-fire, they just didn't thing they had to design them NOT too - it wasn't something a hunter would ever do."
Why are combat versions of what was originally made to hunt birds so popular? It's the tectonic movement of American culture away from first the need to hunt birds, then the recreational enjoyment of hunting birds, to the "badazz" need to play Army Guy or Prison Guard. By the way, I was on the PRP security alert team in the Navy on my ship. We had shotguns, pump 870s. They were not cut down or shortend, just regular length shotguns. ON a ship, with tiny hatches and passageways. I also shot Cowboy Action for years with a regular 30" barrel Winchester 1897. No need to cut it down, doing close combat type shooting. Am I saying most of the riot/trench gun is for looks, for posers? Maybe.
In a nutshell, defense has overcome hunting. You go to a range today and it reminds me of Boot Camp gun qualifications day...everyone has an assault rifle or black gun, firing fast, close, at a man shaped shilohette. Before you think I'm anti-defense, far from it, I carry a gun and keep one around at all times. But to me, it's sad to see so many classic Auto-5s, Stevens 520s, Winchester 1897s and 12s all being chopped to make a "trench sweeper" or "assault shotgun". John M. Browning would be rolling in his grave. We Americans were fighters, when need be. But after the wars, we returned to frontier pastimes like duck, pheasant, and quail hunting. Today, we're beating our plowshares into swords. And losing those shotguns and their history.
So many shotguns deserve to be taken out again to shoot with a young man or woman at what they were made to shoot at - live birds or clay pidgeons. They don't deserve to be hacked off to fit some current fashion or to make a little more money for flippers.